The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-09-25
THE hustle AS FREIGHT.

THE BUSTLE AS FREIGHT.
Final Settlement of q Question that Has Puz.
zled Railroad Men,
New York Times.
All interesting controversy has been agitating
the minds and hearts of the fregh, agents Of
transcontinental railroads. the pool commits
soners, the Interstate-commerce commissions
and California dry goods merchants since
early in February
ticle had long occupied place of dignity and
prominence in the wardrobe of the properly APP
pareled woman. and has formed important
item in the business of merchants. Manufacture
ers, cartoonists and common carriers, it had not,
until the July revision occupied a place on the
freight tariff. Then unclassiied dry good paid
while hoopskirts. under the classification
of wire goods, were assessed only ST. 80
per hundred 1t was consequently the custom
of merchants to ship bustles wire goods"
or 'hoopskrts' indlfferently, describing them
in the bills Of ladine and paying the lower rate
of charges. Thousands of cases had thus
without question, and the goods had been sold
and gone into circulation, when an unlucky
manufacturer, in February last, sent to Stiefel.
Sachs & Co., of San Francisco, case of these
goods described in the bills of lading al
'bustles." The guileess California freight
agent, knowing little and protesting to know
nothing Of this mysterious distender of my
ladys dress and supporter OF her skirts and
hopes, looked in vain for the rate on bustlss in
the tariff catalogue. He therefore charged the
rate on unclassifed dry goods of So. and pra-
cipitated the contest by sending his bill. The
merchants protested against the payment. and
the matter was referred to the general traffic
managers of the road in New York
Some of these were married who pro-
fessed to know something about bustes. for all
Of their wives were supposed to wear them. An
elderly gentleman from among the benedicts was
indigna ant over what he termed the slow subter-
fuge" of CHASING bustles as hoopskirts wire
goods when there wasn't bit of wire nor
nnnT Of ind han Ia nNrnhf %
know, for his wife had worn hustle for years.
The article was made of feathers and cloth; two
long narrow bags. jus: wide enough TOTO
well, to escape being sat on. were sewed to-
gether, the larger one below, and fastened on
with strings. Some of the younger men seemed
amused at his description, and one inquired if
old newspapers were ever employed for stuffng
instead Of feathers wise-ooking man, of
mature years and large family of girls. said
that be had it on the best of authority that the
newspaper hustle existed only In the columns of
alleged funny papers. well-constructed hustle
was filed with curled hair and a still better
quality with WOOL In former years he had pur-
chased such articles himself and he felt that he
authority upon the subject
The preponderance of testimony, although it
did not agree as to details, clearly far
against wire goods" and ''hoopskirts,' and the
traffic managers seemed about to sustain the
charge of SO per hundred, unclasslfed dry
goods, when young married man with scab
his nose, who had listened thus far without
speaking. said he thought there must be some
thing in the wire theory of construction. He
had gone home little late the week before a
little the worse for wear, and was making a
manly effort to get to bed without disturbing his
silent partner, when his foot caught in
thing that felt like bird cage about his ankles,
and he pitched forward until he reached the
mantel, which he found with his nose. He
uttered exclamation which transformed
his silent partner into one of the most
active kind of active partners, and
PEELED an explanation. A light being produced,
the wreck of the object that had caused him to
fall was brought MP for i'm precaton and analysis.
md 10
therefore, allowed her anxiety and
Germ over his mishap to dominate her indig-
nation over the condition in which he presented
himself. So she plssrered his nose. and said the
wreck didn't matter; it could be easily replaced.
"But where's the rest of itf and what's become
THE bird. What do you mean9p his wife ex-
claimed
why. isn't that part of bird cage?" he in
"a bird cage! Hal ha!-why. yes if 1 am
your little birdie, I used to be-thats my
bustle." she said.
This explanation gave color to the 'swire
goods" theory, but still they not sufficiently
informed and more light on the subject had to
be obtained. After debating various PROPOSE
they finally concluded to go to the shippers
themselves. Here they met Mr.. Strauss. the
book keeper. who explained to them that the
hustle of commerce composed of wire and
hoops and crinoline In former years thew had
been built of cotton and excelsior, and hair, and
wool, and feathers and other things. but never,
he thought OF newspapers. NOW they were
nearly all Of WIRE and as there was classical
ton of bustles and the article had superseded
hoopskirts, they felt that they were only doing
right in billing them wire goods. At any
rate these were wire goods and they would
maintain their right to their classification
such. Apples always fruit, but not all
fruit were apples. and although not all wire
goods were bustles all bustles in this day and
generation were wire goods
This view prevailed. The elderly married man
and the wise-looking father of so many daughters
looked as If they had forgotten to remember
som ething, and silently chimed in with the gen.
eral Judgment, and bustles were allowed to pass
as wire goods over their lines paying $L50
freight per 100 pounds. But the freight agents
were unwilling to give up completely. they
have had the tariff commissioners fix the newly
classified article at 81 per 100.